From the culture-generated title to the after-movie child rap star charade, this movie was exploitative to a high degree.
My Baby’s Daddy begins with an animation that provides a brief history about three boys and their troubled upbringing in the so-called “hood.” The movie quickly skips eight years to when the same three men have not left the houses in which they grew up.
Although the animation had ceased, the men are caricatures of a humorless idea – the irresponsible father.
G, played by Anthony Anderson, is a struggling boxer who has been working in a convenience store he used to rob as a kid with his cousin, No Good (Method Man). Lonnie (Eddie Griffin) is the socially-challenged member of the trio whose nerdy antics distastefully contrast that of his girlfriend Rolanda’s (Paula Jai Parker) cheap and extremely loose mannerisms. Dominic (Michael Imperioli) is a starving music producer and a player trying to promote a white rap duo.
Each of the men learn that their girlfriends are pregnant at the same time. Not only that, but the three women give birth simultaneously in different locations.
My Baby’s Daddy is swamped with short clips that lack both relevance and humor. The movie hurdles through unrelated subplots, such as how Lonnie changes from a self-conscious nerd to a self-righteous pimp and eventually learns to just be himself.
Despite the title, viewers see the babies less than 40 percent of the time.
G’s Uncle Virgil (John Amos) finally gets fed up with the men’s idleness and imparts the formula of manhood to the three.
But after his speech, G only asks, “Do I really look like Rerun?” disregarding what was said and unknowingly alluding to the fact that the movie is a “rerun” of the blacksploitation films of the 1970s.
The message of irresponsible boys who transform into mature fathers and learn the importance of building a family is lost amidst blatant stereotypes and fleeting scenes of hollow, dry humor.
But the stereotypes extend beyond the black community. Chinese names and the white rapper cliché are mocked.
The screenwriters, seemingly desperate to evoke laughs in a script lacking consistent plot development, resort to gas expulsion scenes, “potty” jokes and unnecessary profanity that makes audiences cringe.
The bottom line is there is more substance in the babies’ diapers than in this horrendous movie, although it probably smells the same.
Contact Russell Nichols at nichols_russell@hotmail.com.